Chancellor search panel evaluates candidates

The search and screen committee charged with finding the best candidates to be the next chancellor of UW–Madison is evaluating its candidates.

McDonald

David McDonald, who chairs the search and screen committee, said that the panel has a list of 70 applicants that it is considering, with a goal of identifying approximately 10 candidates who will be interviewed.

Following the confidential interviews, the committee will forward a list of at least five names to UW System President Kevin Reilly and a special committee of the board of regents. At that time, the finalists will identified to the public and visit the campus for interviews and meetings. The full board is expected to vote in April on its selection to replace Interim Chancellor David Ward.

Generally, McDonald says the applicants to become the next UW–Madison chancellor exhibit strong administrative backgrounds and records of distinguished academic accomplishment. The leading candidates also have a composite skill set that includes experience working with diverse internal and external constituencies, he says.

“I’m very confident we’ll come up with names that, even if people don’t immediately recognize them, it will be clear why they belong on the short list,” says McDonald, a history professor.

McDonald complimented the search firm tasked with recruiting candidates, Storbeck/Pimentel, for its work, saying the field of applicants reflects the diversity the committee had hoped for.

The 25-member search committee – made up of faculty, academic staff, classified staff, students, administrators and community members– has “gelled nicely,” McDonald says, and he described the level of discussion on the candidates as “extremely high and collegial.”

The search committee will consult with the regents’ committee, giving what McDonald termed as “an intensive debrief” of the candidates when the finalists are selected.

“If they have any questions, my colleagues and I are happy to discuss them,” McDonald says.